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Raging Bull
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Raging Bull was a project brought to Martin Scorsese by his friend and collaborator Robert De Niro. De Niro discovered the book upon which the film is based and wanted to play the title character. The initial screenplay adaptation was written by Scorsese's friend Mardik Martin, who had co-written Mean Streets. It was reportedly a Rashomon-style drama with many different points of view being presented. In the end, this approach was abandoned in favor of a more straightforward narrative written by Paul Schrader, who had written Taxi Driver. Studio executives at United Artists were initially reluctant to finance the project as they feared that the extreme profanity and violence in the screenplay would draw an "X" from the MPAA ratings board... the final draft of the screenplay was written, uncredited, by De Niro and Scorsese themselves.
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A bleak but compelling portrait of one-time middleweight champion Jake LaMotta, Raging Bull is both stunningly acted and emotionally unsettling. In 1941, out of the Bronx slums, rises a new example of boxing prowess, the unrelenting and ape-like Jake LaMotta (Robert De Niro). A winner by virtue of his ability to beat opponents to a pulp, to obliterate them in a hail of blows, LaMotta is stubbornly determined to claw his way to the top. However, he wants to achieve victory on his own terms, with only the help of brother Joey (Joe Pesci). There is a wife, but no love and precious little understanding exists between them. The result is that in-between training bouts (mainly sparring with Joey), Jake spends his time looking for seduction opportunities.
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Raging Bull has an ironic style. The distancing veneer of gleaming black-and-white offering one of the most vivid historical recreations on film, with almost every shot seeming fit for Life magazine. The elegant music with which Pietro Mascagni dreamily fills the film suggests a deep sorrow at the transience of glory, the brutal beauty of life, the dulling of youthful quality, and stands in raw opposition of the tawdry humanity Scorsese filmed. In contrast to the starkly shot personal scenes, the intricately choreographed, expressionistic, anti-naturalistic fights are almost like horror movie moments. Scorsese uses sound effects and slow motion to turn Jake, and later Sugar Ray Robinson, into prowling beasts of prey; steam and smoke weave gothic fogs.
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Since Raging Bull, Scorsese has seen less critical attention, despite the fact that the quality of his work remains quite high. For example, The King of Comedy (1983), one of the American cinema’s most devastating satires, remains, next to his revisionist musical New York, New York (1977), his most underrated film. After the box office failures of New York, New York, Raging Bull and The King of Comedy, Scorsese returned to independent filmmaking with After Hours (1985), an interesting if minor work. He returned to studio filmmaking with The Color of Money (1986), a remake of The Hustler (Robert Rossen, 1961) that is probably Scorsese’s worst film. Scorsese basically made the film in order to have the opportunity to adapt Nikos Kazantzakis’ novel The Last Temptation of Christ, a film he had been trying to make for years and that had already had an earlier production shutdown in 1983. The film was finally released in 1988 despite massive protest from Christian fundamentalists offended by the film’s depiction of Christ’s sexuality.
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At 7.1% alc./vol., Raging Bull begins with the intense malty flavours ranging from the crystal flavour and all its diversity to the coffee flavours of the roasted barley. A slight bitterness is apparent from the Pride of Ringwood hops but the main essence remains with the intense warming body structure. The Bull finishes with a resounding sweetness which, like chocolate, begs for another mouthful. A complete and full beer, Raging Bull is truly unique and possibly the most distinctive beer being produced in Australia today.
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Raging Bull was initially given a mixed reception. Scorsese had held an advanced screening for the film's producers and a few others at an MGM screening room. After the film had finished and the lights in the screening room came on, it is said there was a stunned silence in the room as if 'the audience had lost all powers of speech'. Many critics... were repelled by the film's violence and its unsympathetic central character. Although its cinematography and editing were universally praised, some saw the film as an empty exercise in style. Produced on a budget of $18 million, the film grossed $23 million.[1] Its gritty realism seemed out of place in a cultural atmosphere in which the fantasy films of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas dominated the film industry.
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Raging Bull